What Is It About Iowa?
Two
recent decisions by higher courts in Iowa might make you wonder what judges are
drinking in that state. In the first case, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that a
dentist who fired his assistant because she was too attractive had acted
legally. The dentist was afraid that he would start an affair with the woman, even
though she had worked for him for 10 years and had always acted professionally
on the job. The justices held that the
firing didn’t violate the law because it was prompted by the man's feelings rather than
illegal gender discrimination. It was earlier revealed that the Dentist’s wife
had discovered that he was sending Twitter messages to the assistant.
In
the other case (see LaughingStockNation post July 11, 2013), an Iowa appellate court
overturned the conviction of a man who beat his puppy to death with a baseball
bat for peeing on the carpet. Judges Larry J. Eisenhaur and Mary E. Tabor, who
made up the majority of the three-judge panel, concluded that the man’s
behavior didn’t rise to the level of depravity, sadism or torture required by
the law. “I have some great difficulty understanding how you can beat a puppy
to death and not have sadistic intent,” said a local attorney concerned with
animal welfare.
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